Rick profiled in new book: ‘Gadget Nation’

Seattle, WA (October 10, 2010) – Toymaker Rick Hartman is featured with his inventions in a two-page spread in Gadget Nation, a new book by “Innovation Insider” Steve Greenberg.

Produced by Sterling Publishing Company, the 242-page coffee-table-style volume features weird, wacky, and wonderful inventions from around the United States. Rick’s chapter celebrates his Motorized Ice Cream Cone (U.S. Patent #5971829), and highlights his work as an educational entertainer who uses toys and inventions to inspire young audiences.

Here’s an excerpt: “Toy maker and inventor Rick Hartman is a nationally-known children’s presenter who conducts toy-building workshops and performs at schools, festivals, and museums all around North America. He’s appeared with his creations on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Discovery Channel, and at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Over the past decade, he’s worked with hundreds of thousands of young people at schools, festivals, and corporate family events, spreading the joys—and challenges—of inventing…

“Rick says seeing his creation sell is satisfying, but the most rewarding result of his Motorized Ice Cream Cone is seeing the reaction it gets from kids. ‘The Motorized Ice Cream Cone is so simple, so silly, so playful. It’s an example of creativity that kids can fully relate to—an invention for the pure fun of it. It immediately inspires in children the notion that they too can come up with a great idea.'”

Gadget Nation by Steve Greenberg is available from Amazon.com. More information about Rick Hartman and his School of Toy can be found at www.schooloftoy.com

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